


The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by Rachel Wilder (rwilder)



Category: Dark Angel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-19
Updated: 2006-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 06:10:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1635737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rwilder/pseuds/Rachel%20Wilder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Faced with Christmas without Max, Logan shares a holiday experience with Alec.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for the prompt--it was fun to write Dark Angel again and to take a new look at two characters I've always enjoyed, but never written in a pairing.
> 
> Written for Noel Goddard

 

 

Alec walked up to the door and knocked lightly. He waited a moment and then the door opened.

"Alec," Logan said as he rolled back from the door to let Alec enter the apartment. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Alec held out a wrapped gift. "A present-thought I better get it here while it was still Christmas."

"From you?" Logan asked.

"Max actually-although I did go buy it, wrap it, generally didn't let her touch it."

"Thanks," Logan answered. He turned and headed down the hallway. "You want a drink? I have a little holiday cheer in here, I think."

"Uh, sure," Alec said as he followed Logan into the apartment. He peeked into the living room. "So, no tree?"

Logan pulled a glass from the lower shelf and began to pour brandy into the glass. "Uh, no-Max helped last year and frankly, I just couldn't figure out the logistics of doing it by myself."

Alec took the offered glass and took a sip. The liquid burned down his throat. "Nice-you must have been hiding this away for the right occasion."

"Well, nothing makes me want to relive old holiday traditions like getting the Andy Williams music out," Logan replied.

"I could help you out with that," Alec offered.

"Andy Williams?" Logan asked.

"No-the tree. I'd go get a tree with you, if you want. Otherwise all I have to look forward to tonight is another macaroni and cheese masterpiece at Joshua's."

Logan paused, thinking for a moment. "I suppose we could probably still find one over in Sector Four," he replied. "I mean, if you're up for it."

"Absolutely," Alec responded as he finished off the brandy and set the glass back down on the counter. "I'll follow you."

* * *

"So, a real tree? That seems somehow to go against your whole fight against the downtrodden-I mean, it does kill a tree, doesn't it?" Alec asked as they drove down the street.  
  
Logan looked over at Alec and smiled. "Ah, yes, but sometimes the blue blood is more deeply ingrained than the need to do good.

"My mom loved Christmas and she was particularly in love with the smell of a fresh Balsam in the living room. I don't have a lot of things in my life to still remind me of her, but at Christmas I can put up a tree and it's like she's right there."

"So you are as sentimental as I thought you might be," Alec replied.

"You've got me," Logan answered as he turned the Aztec into a small parking lot. In the corner was a small shed and collection of about twenty trees under the lights strung up in the parking lot.

"How do you find these places?" Alec asked. "It seems to me that this is just the kind of post-Pulse thing that just didn't happen any more."

Logan smiled as he pulled his chair from the car and transferred into it. "I think there are some sentimental things that even the Pulse couldn't kill."

Logan wheeled around the end of the car and headed for the Christmas trees. He slowed as his wheels began to get stuck in a small patch of mud. Alec stepped up behind him and without a word gave him a small push to help him out of the soft ground. Logan continued, making his way to the small collection of Balsam firs.

"What size are you thinking?" Alec asked as he held up an eight-foot tree for Logan to consider.

"Eight or nine feet, I think," Logan answered.

"How about this one?" Alec asked as he picked up another choice.

"Nice," Logan replied. "I think that might be the one."

Logan headed over to pay for the tree while Alec carried it to the car, tying is onto the roof of the Aztec.

* * *

"Are you sure you have it straight?" Logan asked as he pulled himself closer under the tree and began tightening the screws on the tree stand.

"Nice plumber action," Alec quipped as he looked down from holding the tree to observe Logan's body, half under the tree, his pants gaping.

"Seriously, Alec-is it still tipping?" Logan asked as he continued to tighten the screws.

Alec let go of the tree as it tipped forward. "Do you need to take a little more off the bottom? Maybe it isn't quite in the stand."

Logan sighed, then reached for the loppers, raising himself up on his elbows so he could get at the lower branches of the tree more easily. With two cuts, the tree dropped down into the stand a couple more inches. "There, try that."

Alec let go of the tree again, but this time it didn't move. "Mission accomplished. You need some help getting out from there?"

* * *

Logan pushed back from the tree to get a better look at the placement of the lights on the tree. "What do you think?"

"Nice," Alec responded.

"Now, just one more thing," Logan said. He wheeled over to the stereo and flipped a switch, filling the room once again with the sound of Andy Williams.

_Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..._

"So, what else was part of the Cale family Christmas?" Alec asked as he stood next to Logan.

"Well, there was one thing my mom always had us do after we got the lights on the tree."

"What's that?" Alec asked.

"I don't know-I haven't done it, since..." Logan's voice trailed off.

"What is it?"

Logan moved closer to the tree, stopping and setting his brakes. He lifted his feet off the footrest, then carefully lowered himself to the floor. With his back to the tree, he pulled himself closer, then laid down on the floor under the tree.

Alec watched for a moment, then followed Logan, sliding himself next to the journalist.

"When I was a kid she told me it was magic under here."

Alec and Logan lay on the floor looking up at the lights.

"So what about you? Any Christmas memories?" Logan asked.

Alec laughed. "Oh, definitely. Lydecker used to dress up as Santa every year and get us on his lap. I mean, we knew it was him, but we all played along."  
  
"So, not a big celebration, then," Logan replied.

Alec stared up at the lights, quiet for a moment. "It's my first tree," he finally said, quietly.

"Yeah," Logan replied. "It was the same for Max last year."

"I must seem like a slightly inadequate substitute," Alec responded. "I know you'd rather be with her."

"Yeah, well..." Logan's voice trailed off. "That's just not an option, now."

"I wondered what Christmas might be like," Alec said. "We had to learn about it, before going out undercover, but it was always in a more calculated fashion-the Christmas story, Santa Claus, that kind of stuff. No one ever talked about why you get a real Christmas tree, or about why you might lie underneath it."

"I should probably go check my e-mail," Logan said, after a minute.

"Can we stay just a little longer?" Alec asked.

"Yeah," Logan replied as the two lie under the tree, their legs stretching out from the green boughs.

 _It's the most wonderful time of the year._  
_With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you "Be of good cheer"._  
 _It's the most wonderful time of the year ..._

Alec slipped his hand in Logan's. He waited. Logan didn't move away. "Merry Christmas, Logan," he said quietly.

"Merry Christmas, Alec."

 


End file.
